Introducing Levi-Strauss: A Graphic Guide

By Boris Wiseman

Book Overview

Introducing L vi-Strauss is a guide to the work of the great French anthropologist Claude L vi-Strauss (1908-2009). The book brilliantly traces the development and influence of L vi-Strauss' thought, from his early work on the function of the incest taboo to initiate an exchange of women between groups, to his identification of a timeless "wild" or "primitive" mode of thinking - a pens e sauvage - behind the processes of human culture.

Accessibly written by Boris Wiseman and beautifully illustrated by Judy Groves, Introducing L vi-Strauss also explores the major contribution that L vi-Strauss made to contemporary aesthetic history - his work on American-Indian mythology provides a key insight into the way in which art itself comes into being.

This is an essential introduction to a key thinker.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1848316933
• ISBN13: 9781848316935
• Release Date: June 2014
• Publisher: Icon Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.6" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Pitthy, Entertaining Introduction to a Complicated Subject

Reading this was a hoot. It makes structural anthropology fun and understantable in lay terms, notwithstanding the dilution and simplification of key concepts that invariably results from this sort of watering-down treatment.I'm not sure what the previous reviewer meant about L-S's "deconstruction" of myths--although Derrida is mentioned briefly in the book. However, the L-S method of interpreting the transposition and mutation of myths is briefly introduced.

Like a Cliff's Notes for Levi-Strauss

A fun adventure through the complex world of Levi-Strauss and his theory of Structuralism. It contains cartoons, pictures, and fun comments which bring Levi-Strauss' complex theory to a sort of clarity.Although I still don't find any practical use for a theory that is based upon the Western concept of binary opposites and deconstruction of mythology and fiction to explain culture, I am at least better able to understand the theory.